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#math? maybe one of those kinds of calculus I didn't study.
notbecauseofvictories · 5 months
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the moral of the story is, that sometimes if you wait a couple weeks out of both laziness and hesitation to spend that much money, you too can wake up to emails offering you $25 opera tickets.
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larcenywrites · 1 year
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Hello! Could you write more about study dates with boyfriend young!Tony?? 🥺 But this time they're not fighting and are both in good moods hahahah maybe they're helping each other out with homework and giving each other kisses as rewards for getting things right. 😍 Maybe once they're finished, they cuddle in his bed and a soft slow make out session ends up turning into slow cuddly sex?? Thank you in advance!!
Oh, Tony will eat up getting rewards for answering right bc he’s always right 😌But I guess those two do deserve an actual study date (and to be sweet on each other)! This ended being some self-comfort because I have some big tests after spring break
A Much Better Study Date
Warnings: 18+ | unprotected p in v | I guess that’s about it because I’m so used to going ballistic with my kinks | fluff |
Word Count: 2.2K
Finals week. That week before is always the most stressful, but you can always count on your troublesome shadow to help you out! When he's not in a bad mood, horny, or wasn't even paying attention to begin with, that is. His only saving grace was being smart enough to figure it out even when he didn't read the textbook, and honestly it was your saving grace, too, when you were just too lazy to read said textbook. Really, he hardly ever needed to study, but one of his favorite excuses to hang out with you (and get you in his bed) was dragging you over for a study date, specifically when his parents weren't home. And also because he liked helping you out when you were stressed. Though, his help sometimes strayed from the kind you needed. 
"Tony, I'm serious," you laughed, trying to push him away from your neck and earning playful smooches to your arms instead.
"Studying is boring," he argued, a tempting uptick in his voice that alluded to his less-than-boring thoughts. You'd managed to get him through endless chapters of chemistry with no issue, but calculus II was where he drew the line, apparently. 
"I don't want to fail," you said back, more stern this time. He whined in protest, but knew he didn't have a good reason to argue against your concern. "Then can we make it fun?" He quickly sat back up with a newfound idea, much more excited and smiling wide at your small laugh. "Depends on your idea of fun."
He leaned back in, your noses nearly touching as he glanced down at your lips. "When you get it right," he started with a sultry tone, "I'll give you a prize." The offer was as tempting as he was. You'd play along.
"Don't get me too distracted," you teasingly warned. You were a little disappointed when he backed off, snatching up the nearby textbook instead. Unfortunately, however, his little game depended on you getting answers right. Answers to math problems that you had already been struggling on. 
"Wrong." 
"Wrong." 
Wrong.
"Maybe try it again?" His question was unsure, almost scared to suggest it after you looked over at him with a nearly murderous look. You sighed heavily, going back to square one even with the discouragement. 
"Close," he cheered, probably not meaning to sound so condescending. You dramatically fell backward onto the bed with an audible whine. He watched you silence for a moment. 
"Here, maybe you can learn from me," you heard him say before the notebook in your hands was carefully tugged on. You let him take it without a fight, but the heavy textbook that replaced it didn't feel much better.
"You just want me to kiss you when you get everything right," you pouted, sitting back up and pointing your pencil at him. 
"And then I'll kiss you when you get them right," he sassed back, taking the pencil and flipping to a blank page to work in. You sighed as you flipped through for another example problem, not having very high hopes. But he wasn't just scribbling incoherently onto the paper or sorting it in his head. You watched him work at a much slower pace than his brain was probably working at, making sure you could keep up. He was even drawing little arrows to help you connect the dots. You smiled, leaning in for a quick peck to his cheek and hearing his diligent writing stop. "I haven't even done anything yet," he looked at you, a knowing smile hiding on his lips. You shrugged. 
"You didn't have to," you whispered, resting on his shoulder. He looked down with that smile that finally broke through, getting back to whatever he was doing, but you'd lost track by now. So by the time he was boxing in his answer and looking over at you, you hadn't even checked the correct answer yet. Really you didn't need to look to know he was right. That, and he was already leaning down to you for another kiss, knowing he was right. You teasingly avoided his lips, instead kissing at the bridge of his nose. He hummed in disappointment. "Not what I was hoping for." 
You ignored him with a giggle, looking through the study guide for another problem you needed help with. "Do this one," you pointed almost excitedly at the jumble of math. Within minutes he was done, or maybe it was really that easy. That expectant gaze turned to you again, only this time, the grin on his face was a little more smug. You flipped through the pages to find the answer, almost afraid to correct him when you saw it. 
"It says this should be a three," you trailed off, tapping your finger on the page. He studied the page for a few moments.
"I rounded it," he shrugged, deadpanning. 
"It says not to round up."
"It's the same thing," he reasoned, head tilted with a pout. You sighed, unable to keep up your playful banter and leaning over to him. You could feel him smile into your kiss, and hear his whine when you pulled away so shortly after. He let you pick out another one and patiently worked it through with you in mind, playing along with that back-and-forth game, but whether he got bored of the work or just wanted to take control, you weren't sure. 
"Your turn," he sang, pulling the textbook from your lap and offering that notebook in its place. You hesitantly swapped with him. 
"Just look at my work while you do it," he calmly instructed, reassurance radiating through his tone. You only nodded, watching him flip between pages until deciding on the easiest one. Well, the easiest to him, probably. Regardless, you didn't complain, following along with those silly arrows Tony drew. 
"See, easy," he flouted before you even had a chance to finish writing it out. You turned to him with a frown, ready to make some remark or another, but your mind blanked when lips softly pressed to yours. But just as you had done, he didn't stay for long, quickly pecking beside your nose before pulling back. He returned to the text in his lap, continuing to throw whatever problems he deemed fit at you. 
"Look at you," he cooed, feigned impression in his voice as you boxed in another answer. You happily accepted another one of his kisses that had been steadily growing longer each time. And this time, he parted your lips with his, going in harder to leave you breathless. You teasingly bit his lip when you pulled away.
"Thanks," you said quietly, interrupting him before he could successfully chase after you. It wasn't much, but he did help you out a little. His eyes fluttered open to meet yours, glancing between them and your lips with a sigh before brushing it off with that always proud smile at being praised. He sat back up, taking the notebook and pencil from your hands and sliding over to the bedside table to discard those stressful study tools for the night. "Don't thank me yet," he remarked sarcastically. You huffed a half-hearted laugh, watching him flop into his usual spot on the bed and roll onto his side to look at you. 
"You could at least try to believe I'll pass." 
"If you don't, I'll buy you an ice cream or something," he said flippantly with a wave of his hand. You snorted, falling in place beside him. "You'll be fine," he reassured you in a whisper. The way he was looking at you made it so easy to get lost in his bright eyes and smile, chasing away any of your doubts. For tonight, at least. 
You scooted a little closer, his lips already pressing to your forehead and arm circling over you to draw you against him. You yelped in surprise when he suddenly rolled you onto your back, laughing at the rapid-fire kisses being peppered around your face. He dove into your neck, each one starting to linger just a little longer than the last. You bit your lip with a smile when those sweet kisses became soft nips, and your breath hitched at the slow hands finding their way under your shirt. His hands slid their way over your ribcage, coaxing you to curl into him when they slid to your back, expertly twisting apart the hooks of your bra. Tony sat up, bringing you with him, and patiently waited for you to pull your shirt over your head. As soon as it was tossed to the side, your bra was pulled down your arms, joining your discarded t-shirt somewhere on the floor. His quickly followed. Along with your jeans, pulled down with your underwear in one swoop (if not a bit awkwardly while you laughed at his efforts). Even that playful smack to your thigh didn't stop you from giggling. 
But the sight of his cock in his hand when he finally undressed did. You spread your legs in want, inviting him to settle in between them and gripping at the sheets when he did. He leaned over you with one hand anchored at your side while another lined himself up at your entrance. You were greeted with that familiar burning stretch when he entered you, clenching around him and squirming when he stopped moving. He barely moved in and out of you, easing your walls into letting him in more comfortably.
He dropped to you when he finally pushed in further, pressing his face against yours with a blissful sigh that fanned over your lips parted in their own silent moan. It had you smiling, cupping his face in your hands to bring him closer and finally closing that gap. The lips melding with yours pushed you back into the pillow beneath you, carefully licking over your bottom lip as they slowly moved with you. A shallow thrust into you had you gasping into him and drawing your legs to his waist. He made sure to fill you up with his second thrust before finding a rhythm in slowly rocking you with each strong snap of his hips. 
As much as you enjoyed his rougher side, there was safety and affection in this slower passion. The head of his cock languidly dragged against that certain soft spot, a tortuous build-up only mitigated by the harsh kiss to your cervix each time he pushed back in. A warm palm trailed up your arm before taking one of your hands from his cheek, lacing his fingers with yours and nestling into your neck. He pressed into you just a little more, dropping your intertwined hands against the back of his neck and adding to the mix of quiet groans and breathy sighs that filled the room. Your other hand was displaced, instead gripping through his dark hair and trying to pull him in just a little closer, pressing your cheek to his and hugging your legs around him. 
You whined when you involuntarily tightened around him, that gentle build-up finally threatening to tumble. His free hand that had been gripping the sheets flew to your thigh, the thumb caressing shapes into your skin matching the one rubbing at your hand in comfort. 
"Wait for me," he panted quietly, picking up the pace to catch up with you. You gripped at his hand and pushed him into your neck with the grip you had in his hair, trying your best to hold on for him. The tightness in your core was relieved when he faltered, harshly pressing into you between shallowing thrusts. 
"Cum with me, baby, you can do it." Hot breath fanned across your pulse with his words before teeth bit into your shoulder with a strangled moan. His grip on your hand tightened when he spilled deep inside you. You curled into him impossibly more as you let go, pulsing with his throbbing cock. 
You knew he was finished when a gentle kiss replaced those teeth, and those soft lips lingered up your neck. That smiling kiss pecked its way over your cheeks and down the bridge of your nose before finding your own smile. He started that slow makeout again, noses bumping every time he tilted his head and grinning when it made you laugh. 
He finally pulled away, hands leaving you as he slipped out of you and off the bed. It didn't take long for him to return, towel in hand. You reached to thread your fingers through his hair when he rested his head on your chest, flinching a little at the gentle swipe of the towel between your legs. He pecked an apology between your breasts before leaving again.
You rolled to his side of the bed, waiting for his return under the covers and closing your eyes. The lights flicking off caught your attention, feeling a dip in the mattress right next to you and the body responsible pushing you to make room. Despite his efforts, you kept yourself snuggled into his chest as he settled, nudging a leg between his to be closer. You felt his huff against the top of your head, where he still placed one more kiss before draping an arm over you.
"We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."
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outoftimewriting · 4 years
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Imagine (based on the incomplete fanfic Son of the Underworld) (Son of Hades! Percy AU) (5/5) or (5/10)
Hey so, this is the last part of PJO - I follow into HOO, so before you read this, check on the masterpost - and read the warnings before proceeding :)) Good reading!
Annabeth comes to him, at the end of his fifteenth birthday party, and shows her Daedalus laptop. There's a document open in it, and it's labeled Achilles' Curse.
Percy doesn't read it - he hates reading, in any way or form or language - but she does, out loud.
"I'll think about it"
They have a year. Most of them, even those who aren't year-rounders, are going back to camp, to draw battle plans and stock on the armory.
He feels kinda selfish - for a whole five seconds before he remembers he'll probably die next summer, so he just shrugs it off - Percy deserves this year.
They all leave to go back to camp. Nico seems conflicted over something - but Perseus doesn't question it, there's enough bad blood between them.
Paola is really cool - and Sally really loves her. It's kind of bizarre at first, to see his Mom dating his teacher - and of a subject he hates - but Paola is calm and well-tempered and she laughs at his stupid ass jokes.
He visits Persephone afterward - and it really feels like he has three moms to fulfill his lack of a father - well, he is absolutely grateful for the women in his life.
Percy isn't truly in good terms with his father. The man doesn't really seem to care much for him as a person - he is much more of a trophy son.
Perseus loathes being a trophy son, but at least he has someone to help with his powers - not something a lot of half-bloods can claim.
So he goes back to school with Rachel, and they pretend everything is normal. He tells her about his quests - all three of them. He thinks she understands him better now.
He opens up to her. Tells her about Annabeth - the adrenaline-fueled kiss - and Rachel stops talking with him for a week.
She apologizes when she comes back. She needed to figure some things up - firstly, the redhead tells him she is probably asexual - and maybe aromantic too, but she is not certain because the internet wasn't really clear about that.
Then Rachel confesses that she is not jealous of him in a romantic way - she is envious of his friendship with Annabeth. Percy is her first genuine friend that really appreciates her.
This is the first grudge Perseus lets go for real before it even takes place - Rachel didn't leave him because of teenage drama, she ignored him out of confusion. Everyone is allowed space - he knows this better than anyone.
They don't kiss anymore. Not because Rachel doesn't like it - no, she is all for it - but because Percy is starting to think kisses should mean something - he is saving them.
They kiss once - when Rachel father calls for the first time this year - not to ask about her, but to tell Rachel he found this amazing all-girls school. To Percy, kisses mean comfort.
They cuddle a lot, though. These past few years of fear have made Percy very touch-starved.
It's sophomore year - and Percy is in five AP classes: Macroeconomics&Microeconomics, Statistics, Calculus AB, Physics 1, and Comparative Government and Politics.
He is planning on taking both AP Computer Science classes, Psychology, Physics 2, and Calculus BC next year; leaving only Electricity&Magnetism, Mechanics, Chemistry, and World History for his senior year.
If he lives, he is working on a tight schedule here. He doesn't know what he wants yet - and if he is in constant danger, it's already pretty lucky he can do high school - but probably something with Math.
Rachel says fourteen AP courses are ambitious - that he'll burn out. But math comes to him easily enough - it's in his blood.
She is also overworking: She is taking AP Environmental Studies, Art History, Drawing, 2-D Art and Design, and English Literature and Composition.
They complete each other. Rachel is planning on taking as many Art, History, and English courses as she can - he is taking as many Physics, Math, and Science as he can handle.
(She is also going to take on Japanese studies for some reason - probably for her GPA, but Perseus just teases her that she is getting too invested in anime)
Perseus doesn't care about languages anymore - the only languages that matter to him are C++ and JavaScript now.
They study together, they take naps together, they climb to the roof together, they flee school to visit Sally together - he is the Pinky to her Brain, the Scooby to her Shaggy, the Lois Lane to her Superman, the Robin to her Batman.
They look like troublemakers - They are honor roll students, but she is always with ripped pants dirty with paint, and he is always full of flowers everywhere, even in his muddy converses - a cliche to kill all cliches.
They're both nerds - he is the classic one, all polo shirts now, the first chair for every number-related class - and she is the artsy one - there's a brush behind her ear and her hair is so messy that half the time it covers her face.
Paola gifts him a pair of cheap frames without lenses once - saying it adds to the aesthetic - he totally uses them.
Persephone just makes him flower-crowns, and giggles when he matches them with his polo shirts.
When winter comes, he goes back to his hoodies and sweaters and gloves - to find out he doesn't miss them a lot.
Rachel introduces him to polaroids - and they look eerily pretty in the winter, her hair looking like blood spilling over the snow - and he loves it.
If he survives - he can feel Rachel slapping him - when he survives, his college credits will be remarkable. The idea of doing SATs makes him want to cry - reading always does - but he'll get somewhere good - he knows it. Perhaps Stanford. Or NYU. Or the dream of his life, MIT.
He is living his life to the fullest - he starts reading comic books, he gets really (really) into Tony Stark once Iron Man 1 comes out (even if he has to kill at least three monsters just to go to the movies), he plants trees and Rachel starts teaching him how to play her ukulele - but half his mind is still on the upcoming war.
Christmas vacation comes - and he goes to visit Camp Half-Blood, before heading back to his mom. It's quite memorable, if only by the fact that Nico Di Angelo freaking betrays him.
He tells Percy to come to the Winter Solstice with him. Most of the campers are not going - the war effort is in an all-time high - but Percy has never gone before. Hades will be there - it'll be great!
Perseus should absolutely be less surprised with the outcome - seeing that Nico is inviting him in Cabin 1, post-dinner, and they don't even stop to talk to Chiron about it.
But Percy goes. Because Percy wants to make amends.
There's no time to really talk to anyone. They travel in Blackjack for the Empire State Building - and it's fine.
They go up to Olympus, Nico shows him everything in the god's land, the temples are a work of art, if not kind of old, and the meeting is kind of okay, even if the gods are squabbling children.
Then the gods leave, and Perseus thinks they're leaving too.
"My father needs a word with you"
Perseus feels the betrayal claw on him. There are no shadows in the white hall, there's no way for him to escape. Nico looks apologetic - Percy wants to clock him in the face.
"He promised to tell me more about my mother" Nico pleads "He will tell me more about where I've come from. Please, Percy."
Nico is cute. He is, for a soon-to-be fourteen-year-old. But his pretty face and exquisite white eyes don't make him any less of a freaking liar. All his handsome male straight friends betray him - it's a worrying pattern now.
He muses for a second that they also all have a crush on Annabeth - gods, the blonde attract the worst types.
It's double-crossing - Percy ends up in an all-white cell that burns his retinas without any weapons because Zeus wants praise in the middle of this freaking war - doesn't matter if a hundred demigods die, if he only has the glory.
Nico ends up with barely any information - Zeus didn't promise anything. The god of the skies is a lying-ass motherfucker - literally.
And Zeus justifies it - He says Perseus is a criminal because he awakened Typhon. So Hephaestus issues a quest so he can save a hundred demigods, he destroys a powerful titan weapon of doom, and he is the villain? Sure, Jan.
Perseus writes this grudge in his heart - that's where trust will take you. To a cell. Betrayed by a "friend". Again.
He flinches when Nico comes into his cell, pins him to the wall and promptly begins to try and strangle him. He wants to melt in the boy's shadow - to go and never give him a chance to explain - but he looks so guilty Percy waits for his repentance.
The son of Zeus saves him, but Perseus is still pissed off. The god of thunder has threatened to kill him off at least two times now, what is to say he wouldn't have killed off Percy for the sake of glory?
He half hopes Zeus had killed him off. The war is close, too close - Nico wouldn't be the Prophecy's child. There would be no child. Olympus would fall - and Percy would have seen it all from his very comfortable couch in Elysium.
He wants Kronos gone - but he kind of wants Olympus to fall with the Titan.
Nico flies him down to the Earth - the elevator is monitored. Zeus has left, like many others - not to bother with the war effort against his main enemy, but to go to the human world mess with people.
Some gods are doing something - He has heard from Annabeth that Artemis is leading the widest hunt ever, with her brother by her side; Hermes (with Hephaestus help) is delivering Celestial Bronze, other metals, old schematics and a whole lot of fuel to Camp Half-Blood every few weeks; Poseidon is fighting his own war, in the ocean; Dionysus is at Camp - and this time, he is really helpful with the battle formations; Demeter is on the Underworld - Chiron seems to think his father is preparing for war, but Percy sorely doubts it.
Percy is taking some people with him to Sally's Christmas dinner. Just Annabeth, Clarisse, Rachel, Connor, Travis, and Charles - people who don't have a present family to celebrate it with.
Grover is coordinating the dryads up in San Francisco with his second cousin, Gleeson Hedge - they are the first to fall if anything goes wrong in Mt. Othrys.
"I think you should stay." He tells Nico.
"You don't trust me anymore." It's not actually a question.
Percy doesn't trust the boy. Not at all - it's the third time he does something shady to achieve his ends based on emotional turmoil. But he is a good person - it's just his father's cursed temper and his grief.
"It's not that. You're needed for the war effort."
Both of them know it's a lie. Percy doesn't care - he deserves to be bitter a little longer.
Percy goes back home. Christmas is amazing - even if Rachel asks him where Nico is because he is talking about making amends with the boy for a while now.
He goes visit Persephone - but she is occupied, so he wanders through the Underworld after Bianca di Angelo - someone he, for some reason, never been able to reach. It's a pointless endeavor by now.
He finds her. Or else, he finds a shadow of her - she is blocked from his view. Bianca doesn't talk to him - they weren't close - but she guides him to a girl.
Her name is Hazel Levesque.
She seems lost - like most ghosts - but something in Percy calls for her. It's the color of her skin and the sparkle in her golden eyes - Hazel remembers him of himself.
He promises to visit more - even though he doesn't think she'll remember it - and leaves to go back to the surface - he will finish the sophomore year.
And Percy does. After a very distressing break, he is doing his best. His grades drop a little in English because he can barely focus - half his mind is on the war and Nico's betrayal and Hazel Levesque's golden eyes.
Miraculously, his GPA doesn't fall - he still is taking a ridiculous amount of AP classes, and barely has time to breathe - dark circles grow under his eyes, and he looks like a mess - but now he is a Junior.
That's why, as soon as the year ends, Rachel takes him on a road trip with Connor. They go all the way to Boston, then Portland, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Syracuse, Baltimore, and Filadelfia, before going back to NY.
They are stopped five times by the police - because Percy is black, and it's Rachel driving the Camaro, because she has a learner's permit and Connor is, somehow, an approved license holder.
They are on a pier, enjoying the view of the beach. They did the last week alone because Connor wanted to go check on one of his cousins - at least, that's what he said, with an over-exaggerated wink that both Percy and Rachel ignored for the sake of their sanity.
She tells him about Clarion Ladies Academy - but that her father is at least mildly happy with her GPA this year, even if he disapproves of her Art focused AP classes. Percy thinks Mr. Dare would love him, with his APs on Economics and Politics, if only he was rich. And white.
This time, when Charles Beckendorf arrives in a Pegasus to tell him it's time, Rachel doesn't kiss him - she justs hugs him and makes him promise to call her.
Perseus doesn't go to the Andromeda Ship - he is needed in Camp. He is useless on the water - but they do need him to improve battle strategy.
Charles Beckendorf is dead. Thalia is the one to tell them - she was in her father's palace helping with a monster under her Lady's orders - he went on the mission alone.
Percy talks briefly with Beckendorf's ghost - is his worst developed power, and he can barely hold the "seance" for more than a few minutes. He does it with only Nico di Angelo for witness - the others are the way to close to the situation.
There's a spy passing information to Luke.
They look at him. Doesn't matter how much he does, he is always the first suspect - he is a son of Hades. He was friends with a lot of people on the other side. He was gone for a year and a half, who knows where.
Perseus wants to say that he has helped to save their asses four times now - that without him in the Labyrinth, they would all be dead right now - and that Charles was basically his older brother.
Then he points out he wasn't even here - he had no idea of any plans of anything - and he told him about the spy, so he is not the freaking spy, go point fingers at each other instead of him.
When they start yelling, he stops them - this is not the time, he was just angry at their accusations. They have to burn Charles shroud. Silena is inconsolable - Percy is not very far from it, but he is not a public crier. The last time he cried in public, Luke was dead on a cliff.
Percy speeds up the line for Elysium to Beckendorf - his brother deserves it.
They read the prophecy together - Perseus already read it last summer, he doesn't even care anymore. They look at him anxiously - no one has forgotten that he abhors most of the gods.
Clarisse and Michael Yew fight, but Lee Fletcher - with a mechanical arm built by Beckendorf himself, still re-learning how to shoot arrows and forever incapable of playing the guitar again (but the keyboard is not ruled out yet) - stops them: They can share the chariot. The war is more important - is not the time for petty fights.
Chiron shows them Typhon - and Perseus has a sliver of hope that they can destroy Kronos and be free of the gods at the same time - It's a horrible hope, because he loves Persephone and some of them are even okay sometimes, but he really wants Zeus to go to Tartarus for at least a century, so Perseus doesn't meet him again in this life.
But he also wants the gods to win, because there's a lot of dead people - innocents, people who have nothing to do with this war.
He dreams of Rachel. Rachel is painting Luke - and Percy wakes up crying, for the boy the gods took away.
Annabeth takes him aside and reminds him of Achilles' Curse. He is off to May Castellan's house - the last place Luke has been - for it's his best and only chance, its what Annie thinks. And she is scarcely wrong.
Perseus hates the gods. They wrecked a family - and for what? May Castellan - forever waiting for a son that will never come back, haunted by visions of his future, plates of burned cookies everywhere.
Perseus doesn't pity her - he rages against the gods, who brought madness upon this woman and then left her to it. Where was Apollo, the god of health? Dionysus, who is supposed to control mental health? Artemis, whose job is to protect women?
Hestia is kind - but she is still a goddess. She could've prevented this - but she hides in her hearth and abstains - and that's enabling. Hestia enables the other gods to do as they please, even when she is the oldest. She says they ignore her - oh well, she ignores them right back! He has no time for the laments of another all-powerful being.
So he goes to his mother and asks for her blessing. Then, just to be sure, he asks Persephone's too.
He thinks about his anchor - where does he want it to be in his body. He doesn't want somewhere in his back - where he can't see it - or in his gut - where anyone can stick a sword. He settles for the bottom of his back - where he can at least touch it and it's well protected by armor - and dives.
Perseus hates water - and he has an uncanny fear of drowning. He feels pain - everywhere, horrible pain.
His vision now doesn't have Annabeth's face - the blonde is his link to the demigod world, Persephone is his link to the Underworld and his mom is his link to childhood - but the person who grounds him is Rachel.
He is stronger. He feel his powers at his fingertips - Perseus feels the Underworld as a whole, and it's overwhelming.
Green flames explode from his hands. Flowers made of shadows curve around his ankles - he has been training since he was 12, but now his body can sustain all of his power. This is all his.
He goes meet with his father - Perseus manipulates him. He tells Hades he'll be the hero, but the god himself can be praised for more than being his father. That he should join the battle against Typhon - That's his chance of proving himself. Also, there's less paperwork for him if there are fewer dead people.
His father is amused with his blatant bribing, but he thinks about it, Percy can tell. In a way or another, he excuses himself and goes back to the surface where he is needed.
Persephone stalls him. She asks him to stay, just for this night. He can go back in the morning - he sleeps, and dreams of Rachel again, drawing in the sand. In greek.
He is scared for her - she is having demigod dreams, but she is mortal. Something is wrong.
Typhon is getting worse - and Kronos draws closer to NYC. It's time - he calls for Blackjack and leaves - Mrs. O'Leary, who has become more or less of a mother to his own hellhound, follows. Persephone promises to convince Hades.
They have about sixty campers able to fight heading for the Empire State Building, and five healers. The ones too young to lift a sword or string a bow stayed back at Camp with Argus - fifteen children between 5 and 9 years old.
Percy knows he looks different - he looks just like his father. He has gained a godly aura - he has no scars anymore, no imperfections. Perseus looms over all of them - he went from 5'7'' to 6'2'' - it's a weird view, from up there. It's still strange when they look at him with a mix of fear and admiration.
Perseus Jackson is officially their leader. He hates Olympus - but he will give his life to defend every single one of his demigods.
The vision Hestia shows him just makes him want to tear this throne room with his bare hands - Luke was a kid. He was a kid - and the gods corrupted him. Thalia was a kid - and the gods took her life, twice. Annabeth is still a kid - they all are - and she is here planning battle strategies.
Annabeth missed an extra year of formal education - while Percy is a Junior, Annabeth barely qualifies for a Freshman - because the gods took this from her too.
Percy rages. The ground of Olympus trembles beneath him - he wants to kill something.
Then Hermes appears - like this whole war is not his fault in the first place, the literal bastard - just to relay a message from Athena that gives them a plan that Annabeth was already putting into works and tells Percy to stay away from Annabeth.
Like she cares. Like Athena has ever, ever, done anything for Annabeth.
Perseus can't punch Athena, so he punches the messager (also, because he freaking guilt trips both of them about Luke). He has nothing to lose - he is going to die by the end of the day anyway, and they need him too much.
He has punched a god before - Ares, in a desert in the middle of Los Angeles - but this time, it's satisfactory. He feels good after it.
Hermes seems strangely resigned - He feels guilty about Luke too, but Perseus doesn't think it's enough. It'll never be enough, not while the gods leave their children to rot in a cabin of rejects and May Castellan bakes cookies for a son that will never come back.
Hermes leaves, ashamed. It's only fair, Perseus thinks. They all should be ashamed.
They see the city asleep - the prophecy is in the works.
Perseus executes their strategy - every cabin is covering a tunnel, with the exception of Dionysus, because Pollux is with the Demeter kids, and the Hecate kids stay behind to use spells to overlook the city. Lincoln Tunnel is getting covered by Ares - who, this time around, is actively participating.
The undetermined who didn't desert are with Hermes - and the minor god's children are divided by specialty - most Hypnos and Morpheus children follow him directly, but the two sons of Iris go with the Apollo Cabin.
Annabeth executes Plan 23, automatons, mounting on Mrs. O'Leary (who has strict orders to take Annabeth anywhere she wants without stopping to play around) - she doesn't need his help with this, and Percy has a tunnel to defend.
That left the rivers uncovered - until Thalia appears, with magical sand money, and made the rivers cooperate.
The hunters join the Aphrodite kids - who are half a dozen children between 11 and 19 - the oldest being Silena Beauregard, who uses a crossbow that looks exactly like her immortal half-brother's one.
His bridge is completely covered on skeletons - but no monster comes, even if he hears explosions. He leaves an English Lieutenant from the Battle of Yorktown in command of the bridge - with Tyene, the oldest daughter of Morpheus, to be in alert and don't let Clovis sleep through the battle. Because he did it before - and while it is funny, it can't happen right now.
Perseus mounts Blackjack - and go see where the noise is coming from. It's the Williamsburg Bridge - where are most of Apollo's Cabin.
They fight - and Percy almost cries when he sees Luke, who is not Luke anymore. Luke, who is a puppet controlled by Kronos.
Perseus kills the Minotaur and the weight of his stone spikes collapse the bridge - and Michael Yew dies. This time around, the bridge falls silently into shadows, and he doesn't bother about searching for the corpse - he saw the boy falling, and his screams will haunt all of them, forever.
This time around, Annabeth is not there to protect him - Ethan also doesn't try to kill him. The Son of Nemesis doesn't leave Kronos side for a second - but there's regret in his eyes.
After the bloodlust is gone, Perseus collapses - Will has to bride carry him back. Overuse of his powers - he summoned skeletons and produced shadows, melted enemy swords (with the bonus of incapacitating them without killing), and sprouted stone spikes everywhere - there's even a vine or ten that he used to hold his friends from falling.
Perseus doesn't sleep quickly enough to not hear the yell of anguish that comes from Lee Fletcher - the pain of losing a brother and not being able to fight beside him.
But he does sleep - and he dreams. He dreams of Hades killing Maria Di Angelo, not Hera, like Zeus told Nico. He dreams of Zeus cursing the Oracle - and he seethes, because he also sees what happened to May Castellan.
He keeps getting angrier and angrier at the gods - it's building inside of him. But his friends are still here, still fragile. He can't let them suffer more.
Perseus wakes up, checks on everyone - most everyone is either injured and/or exhausted, but he checks on every camper. He knows all of their names, their ages, their cabins. - and promises to sit up to talk with Thalia and Nico - war makes him prone to peace - and promptly goes back to sleep.
He dreams of Rachel. He wants to scream for her not to come: but she'll anyway.
Perseus dreams of a boy. He is his age - maybe a little younger. His hair is blonde and his skin is whiter - but Percy glances at his eyes, and there are waves in them.
There's a girl by his side - she is familiar to Percy, somehow. They're climbing a mountain.
The dream ends and Percy can't make heads or tails of it. He asks Thalia if she has a brother, but she says that she doesn't, looking wistful.
Prometheus is tempting - but he knows there's no Luke anymore, there's only Kronos. And the gods are horrible, vile and immature - but they never killed any of Percy's friends. Some of them died for the gods - but never by their hands, so for now, Perseus would toe the line.
He does want to punch Hermes again. He takes the Pythos - if everything goes wrong, he will not hesitate in going down for the sake of his friends - but there have been six deaths, and it's enough.
"Was it worth it?" He asks Ethan.
"Alabaster is alive" And it's all the answer Percy needs.
He dreams of Ethan and Alabaster. Alabaster is alive, yes, but he is missing half a leg - courtesy of Clarisse herself. Luke - Kronos - is indifferent, and Ethan curses the daughter of Ares - "The sword that took from us will take from you"
He contains Hyperion with his shadows. Then he helps Grover (who was half asleep, because of Morpheus) to make the Titan into a tree. It's a pomegranate tree - then he sets hellish fire to it and sacrifices it to Hades and Persephone.
A pig is in the sky - this time around, Annabeth and her frightening army of automatons kill it with Nico's help.
Perseus laughs - because Annabeth has about two hundred automatons under her command, Martin Luther King and Alexander Hamilton leading the charge with a giant bull being ridden by the Mad Hatter behind them.
It's weird to see historic figures Percy admires - like Jane Bolin, Sylvia Mendez, or Abraham Lincoln - fighting alongside people he downright despises - Thomas Jefferson and the goatfucker, herpes-ridden, Colombus. His Comparative Government teacher would have a field day.
Annabeth and Nico's pair up is amazing - They fight alongside like they have been doing it all life.
Nico is a force of nature, flying and commanding the winds to do his bidding - His eyes shine in the midst of the stormy clouds. His specialty is weather manipulation - he hasn't had much success with direct energy or electric discharges.
Annabeth has her mother's tenacity for war - and her clever mind for strategies. It's clear in her eyes - she is racking the weaker points of the Clazmonian Sow in her mind and destroying it. The automatons hold the pig in place - and she makes bacon of it.
Hercules couldn't do it. Nico and Annabeth can, because they have the power and the mind.
Perseus is still fighting off monsters - but they're too widespread, so they retreat to the doors of the Empire State Building.
Percy does a mental tally: of sixty-two campers, six are confirmed dead, twenty are injured and nine are out of commission on exhaustion. There should be 27 orange shirts here - but there's only twenty.
Percy wonders if the seven missing are injured, or dead, or under a pile of rubble somewhere with no one to help them. Is there someone being slowly eaten by monsters? Is there someone alone and injured and abandoned? He doesn't know.
He prays that those seven deserted them - at least that means they probably are alive and well.
Perseus looks at Phoebe's grief-stricken face, and he knows it's not probable - she had almost three dozen hunters with her, and now there's barely fifteen still fighting, Thalia nowhere to be seen.
They prepare for their last standing - Percy keeps conjuring skeletons, but they're no match for the sheer strength of the hyperborean giants. Nico is shoulder to shoulder with the Stoll brothers against a group of telkhines - Clarisse is bringing down a whole giant by herself.
After the Party Ponies save them - Chiron leads the charge against his own father, and Perseus is so proud of his mentor he can't even put in words how much - he goes to sleep. Fighting gets him tired quickly, and they'll come back.
He dreams of Dionysus. Perseus is not fond of any god who is not Persephone, but Dionysus is mostly okay sometimes. He seems to care about his children.
Perseus couldn't care less about the Western Civilization - but he'll care for Pollux. It's one of his demigods, after all, and Underworld people are possessive of theirs (i.e. Hades and Persephone).
He dreams of Thalia, in her father's palace, begging Poseidon to leave the underwater war and help with the invasion - His wife is none too happy with the presence of his immortal bastard daughter.
He wakes up to Rachel's helicopter falling - how is Rachel even awake, is a mistery.
The improbable pair Nico and Annabeth strike again: The girl knows how to fly helicopters, and the boy can fly himself. They save the redhead and the pilot - everything is fine.
"You're not the hero"
"Why did you risk yourself to tell me something I already know?"
Rachel doesn't explain - she can't. But she has a vision that says that he is not the hero. The hero of what? Perseus has no idea. But there's no way any of his cousins is dying for this stupid prophecy.
Suddenly, there's a drakon there. Rachel has another prophecy - Perseus fears she will walk the path that led May Castellan to destruction - that only a child of Ares will be able to kill it.
Bad news: All children of Ares are otherwise out of battle.
Clarisse is resting after a nasty concussion - and her brothers and Apollo's children are fighting yet again because Lee Fletcher is in no condition to stop them and Michael Yew is dead. Ares' side refuses to fight without the chariot - which Cabin 7 has hidden somewhere.
The best they can do is fend the drakon off until a miracle occurs. And it does: Clarisse, in full armor, manages to lead her brothers into battle.
Clarisse is dead. Something shatters inside of Perseus - and he leaves the drakon for the Ares' children to solve - he can't kill it anyway - and starts to vaporize the army behind it.
He is so caught up in bloodlust, that he almost misses Clarisse slaying a dragon. Clarisse, who has no armor. Clarisse, who is alive.
Ethan's curse rang true - Clarisse's weapon took something from her.
Silena is a traitor. She is also dead - which makes her a martyr, and probably going to reunite with her boyfriend in Elysium.
He remembers how easy is to fall for Luke's charm - he was - is - still in love with the guy. Percy thought the son of Hermes could do no wrong - and he wonders how much of his rage against the gods sprout from his influence.
Something evil inside of Perseus's mind tells him she deserved it. It tells Perseus that better her than Clarisse - but he shuts it down, and concentrates on his shining red friends.
He hates Ares. But he might just have an okay side if he can produce such a magnificent daughter.
Silena is the Patroclus to Clarisse's Achilles, and the Drakon is Hector - and the daughter of Ares is sure to parade its dead body.
It's the first time they feel like they are winning. It doesn't last - but as he hugs Clarisse tightly, he thinks he might cry of relief.
Clarisse looks tough - but she is a wonderful human being. She loves Silena with her whole heart - even more than she loves Chris, her best friend. Silena might've been in love with Charles - but she and Clarisse? They are soulmates.
The damned Pythos is following Perseus - and he is done with it. He knows where hope will survive best. Rachel wants him to give it to Hestia - but he owns the fire goddess nothing.
She has never interfered, not once, to help the dozens of demigods with no family that is abandoned in Cabin 11, and he won't forgive her for it.
He sacrifices hope to Persephone because that's what spring is. Spring is the hope of a new life. Maybe, Perseus thinks, it'll convince his father to come.
They go down to make their final stand against the forces of Kronos. There's not a lot of them - but they're not getting through those doors.
Well, his father doesn't come. But Poseidon does, with his whole army, Tyson and Thalia behind him, and the scales seem to turn.
And then Kronos cuts the barrier. Perseus can see his Mom (why is his Mom here with a handgun?!) and Poseidon fighting against the monsters under the eyes of extremely confused mortals.
Some are trying to break the barrier - but it's futile. Kronos has corraled them like sheep for the slaughter.
It's just him, Grover, Annabeth and Nico, fighting against Kronos vanguard - which is big, but not as strong as they are.
Kronos passes him without resistance - Ethan follows, but there's anger in his eyes - not for Percy, but for the monster he is leashed to. Alabaster is not there.
As soon as Kronos powers stop working on them, the four follow the titan - and some things never change, no matter the universe.
This time, it's Nico who falls because of Hera - it's her curse over all of her husband's bastards.
Ethan takes one look at Perseus, and they don't even need to fight. They have been friends for longer than they have been enemies - and they both loathe the gods, but Kronos is as much of an all-powerful controller being as any of the Olympians.
They battle against Kronos - Perseus has only his ax against his scyther - a true Underworld fight.
Ethan dies. And Perseus bloodlust consumes him - it clouds his eyes and he can only keep fighting.
"If... if we've had cabins... and they had thrones"
It's true, and more than ever, Perseus wishes Kronos wasn't such a bastard. He wouldn't bother killing the gods - but the titan is a way worse option.
"LUKE, PLEASE" It's Annabeth. He doesn't have her faith - she didn't saw his transformation. But he tries anyway because he loves Luke just as much as he hates Kronos.
"Luke, remember our summer" But his words are caught up in his throat when the titan throws him against the wall.
But the amalgamation of his friend and an all-powerful being looks confused, so props for his genius best friend.
Kronos shows them a rainbow message of Typhon - and that's where Perseus it's pretty sure he starts liking his father.
Because the Lord of the Dead opens up the earth and gets out in a black chariot guided by skeletal horses like a king. By his right side, is Persephone, in armor battle as a queen should be. By his left, is Demeter, who looks every single bit like the matron she is supposed to be.
Behind him, a hundred thousand dead roars. Charon is mounting Cerberus - and literal hell is unleashed upon the Father of Monsters.
The gods strike down Typhon, sending him back to be locked away - this time, in the depths of Tartarus instead of Mount Etna.
Kronos gets mad. Utterly, undoubtedly mad. He talks about burning Luke's body. Then he hurts Annabeth and breaks two promises in one fell swoop.
"Luke.... remember family" It's what Annabeth utters, but Perseus, already certain of their own demise, is crying now.
"That summer Luke, you promised to never hurt her again. You remember it? YOU PROMISED LUKE!!"
Annabeth's promise was already broken - he had hurt her, all those years ago, in Mt. Othrys. But the promise he made to Percy - that he would never hurt her again - is new and broken, in the river Styx no less.
Luke regains his own body, for a minute, and Perseus runs to him like a man in a desert with no water.
"Please, please tell me there's a way to undo this, Luke, please, please"
"There isn't one, Percy" And it's the first time he hears Luke call him Percy, Percy and not Perseus, in his own voice, in two years. Percy cries.
"We... we don't have much time, hellebore. Give me Annabeth's dagger. Before he... before he takes back"
Luke calls him hellebore and it makes him start crying all over again. He gives him the dagger - and Luke kills himself, taking Kronos out with him.
Luke doesn't need to ask if Percy has ever loved him - Percy kept loving Luke, one-sided as it was, even when Kronos was there.
He still crying over Luke's body when the gods arrive. Luke is dead. Ethan is dead. Silena is dead. Michael Yew is dead. Charles is dead.
He lost three of his best friends in two days. Ethan is dead. Luke is dead. Luke is dead.
Perseus can't stop crying. They take Luke's body away - but he can't stop. Annabeth explains what happened to the gods - most of it, anyway. Apollo says he is in shock - his father says he is a hero.
Perseus doesn't feel like a hero. Was this all worth it? Was it worth it the pain and the death and the suffering?
Persephone touches him - and he has no tears to cry anymore. She can't hug him here, but she'll do so later.
He stares at the walls, listening to his friends being awarded - compensated by their siblings and friends' deaths - with a blank stare. Perseus wants his mom.
They call for him. He raised his head but doesn't bother getting up. He just saved their asses - for the fifth time in a roll. He deserves to grieve.
They offer him immortality. A place between the gods.
He laughs. Zeus looks murderous, but he can't stop laughing.
"My apologies, but I have to refuse," he says. But in his mind, he is thinking about how could they even think he might want to sit between them and be an all-powerful being, be another god ignoring his children and messing with mortal lives while thousands die for him.
"Promise me, on the river Styx, that you'll give me the wish that I want."
They promise him, that if it's within their capabilities, they shall grant him his wish.
"I wish for every child at the age of twelve to be claimed. I wish for cabins in Camp Half-Blood, for every single minor god, and my own father. I wish for Calypso to be free, and to the demigods from the opposite side of this war to be given amnesty. It's not their fault. It's not any of our faults."
"You dare to-" Zeus begins, but Percy is really tired of Zeus.
"We fought your war, we won your battles. We, the unclaimed and rejected stowaways of Cabin 11. We, the children of minor and Underworld gods. We deserve respect. Just like my father deserves a throne, just like the minor gods deserve justice."
"Don't you fear us?" Athena asks, something weird shining in her eyes.
"I thought I would be dead today. At least if I die now, I'm dying for something I believe in."
It stays unsaid that he doesn't believe in them. The other demigods look at him worried - but he is not afraid of the gods.
They grant his wish. Some of them aren't happy with it, but they have to do it. He meets Calypso at the front gates of Olympus - and her smile can brighten the pits of Tartarus. He sees Alabaster talking with Lou Ellen - they are both crying.
He thinks it's the end - it's not. Thalia tells him Rachel left for Camp in her Pegasus - and his father has lift the curse, the Prophecy is gone, but he fears for his best friend.
Perseus is too tired for shadow travel - he does it anyway. He flickers, but anyway, he is too late.
It works. Rachel - his best friend - is the new Oracle. Someone jokes they can't be together anymore and Rachel lifts an eyebrow.
"We never were. Didn't you see the last few hours?" Well, he did out himself. Mostly - they might say it's just friendship, and he will hate the way they twist it. Luke wasn't a villain, and Perseus isn't a pure hero with a heart of gold.
Perseus is healing from lost love - and Annabeth is too. His crush on her was only a crush, he thinks - She is his best friend first and foremost. They cry together at the bonfire that burns away the shrouds of 43 demigods - from both sides - and 16 hunters of Artemis. Their souls all rest in Elysium now.
Alabaster comes back to Camp and helps his siblings to build the new Cabin for Hecate, full of spelled blocks and magic chimneys. Clovis and Tyene have their hands full with their own cabins - it doesn't help they keep getting sidetracked with naps.
Somehow, Nico, Thalia, and his bond over helping construct Cabin 13 - They are both way too invested in the goth vibe, mostly because Cabin 1 looks like a temple, and Cabin 3 looks like a beach cabin. And both of them are so over it.
Perseus doesn't want a goth cabin - he is fighting against the aesthetic for years - but sometimes, there are no arguments. His Cabin is made of black marble, and there are skulls everywhere, with torches shining with green fire. Outside, at least. Inside, it looks like Persephone's garden, with input from the queen herself. It's ready just shy of the end of summer vacation.
Rachel tells the next Great Prophecy. Perseus isn't such a positive person to think it won't affect him - he hopes at least it'll wait until he is done with High School.
That night, he dreams of the blonde boy again - it's his first night without nightmares since the battle. He has a scar in his lip, and his green eyes pierce Percy's soul. Perseus wonders if they'll ever meet, wonders if this boy is one of the Seven of the Prophecy.
But alas, Perseus lets it go. The summer is over - he is sixteen, somehow. He is alive and going to go back to his mortal life and his junior year, and grief. Not everything is fine - but eventually, it will be.
It's not the end. Not yet.
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seedleaflesssapling · 3 years
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Ver 2.0? Turning Point?
I can't really identify to which point in my life that i started to doubt myself but im pretty sure that it was because of UP. Damn, that school, my uni. It do really have the ability to make you feel small; i was in a disadvantaged side when i entered it, you know. I was acquainted, no we did not really talked one-on-one, but i heard when we did introductions - Pisay, UP High, science comprehensive schools, Xavier University, who wouldn't be intimidated by that when you came from Col. Ruperto Abellon National School (who would know where that is? I was lucky enough for a teacher recognized it and my classmates be like 'ahhhhhh,' .....really?! I dont even know where xavier is, it just sounds cool). Another thing is that, i wasn't a stem shs graduate - a leverage(?) or excuse (?) that i always use for them to know that i am at disadvantaged side here, not their competitor, probably a NOBODY. They, being stem graduates, have capstone projects you never thought that they have at that age, but i would hear them saying that it was publish in this journal (whatever, idk the journals lmao, i dont even understand their studies 2nd lmao, but that was some smart shit you know, a shit that makes me feel pathetic for being too proud of my what? Correlational study from inconsistent surveys?!!! Wtf, wtf, wtf). But it was a very good peer pressure you know, i kinda turned it that way. Being left behind, being on the rock bottom, i have no other place to go but up. It wasn't the goal, like making or taking the top spot, i just need to survive.
Inevitably, the exams came. I had hard time adjusting chem but math was kind to me. Who would have thought that i would get two 1.0 at my math subjects for the first semester, the sem that i thought i would barely pass. I was even a CS for that sem. Who would have thought? Our first chemical engineering subject that involves computations was on the list the next semester and the first exam, out of 100 i got something like 20ish. WTF. THAT WAS MY FIRST FAILED EXAM. but no, never did cry but tears were flooding inside. So apparently, i have to focus more on this subject and i did. Some were still failing, but i raised my average up. We also had physics, my first ever physics. I really love physics that time or that sir rommel is just a very good professor. I got the highest score on our second LE, everybody else did fail. Small victories. Not that they lose, but i just won. But i heard one time they were talking about me re: passing the physics exam and even getting a high score. They were uhm.. a guy i really look up to cause his good, the other was a girl that idk but i think she didn't like me back then. They were friends but eventually the girl transferred uni because who cares why. i heard the guy saying something like sin.o gid na si franklin nga taas iya score man, maybe even worse than that, i still look up to the guy even until now. But wtf. I really took it in that time, like i wanted to cry but did not. With all that, i got a fair grade at physics. I still got 1.0 at maths that sem and even maintained being on the CS list. S M I L E. BECAUSE WE HAVE A MIDYEAR CLASS. VERY EXHAUSTING FOR SOMEONE WHO DONT WANT ANYTHING BUT JUST ADJUST, SURVIVE, AND FIND MEANING OF BEING A UP STUDENT. It was just one subject and it was math, but i got 2.0?!!! I have no excuse to that, i am very grateful for the family who accommodated me. After midyear class, i did got sick, it sucks, really sucks. I wanted to file an LOA for the next academic year, it is the only thing i can think of for me to go back on track (i haven't said that my parents pushed me to graduate with latin honor and i wanted to also for my resume to look good because everything else in me is effed up). I really wanted to pause and be free for a while but i also wanted to graduate on time (mostly because i want to give the bitches who dared to have expectations be put on my shoulders not the satisfaction, but the audacity to tell them 'i aint did it for ya') so i asked mama. THANK GOD, SHE DID SAY NA KUNG ANO LANG KAYA MO, AMO LANG DA IH 😭😭🤧🤧 so i enrolled, but went to school late, haven't attended the school opening but all is good. I did kind of reset, just enough for me to face school again.
Second year, it was fucked. I did really love coding on octave and doing sheets at ms excel though. On that year, we have formed the che 103 bagsak group. Together with two of my classmates on 103 and math 55, we became buddies after failing che 103 on the first LE, another 30 over 100 exam hahahahaha. We made bawi just enough for us to pass the subject hahahahahuhu. I have thermodynamics sub, i barely pass. Thank G na wala ko nag removal. If ever i did, i am so sure that i wont make it. My GWA for that sem was not enough for me to be a CS. Who cares? I still did, actually but mama was never been too pushy since then, even since after midyear, after getting that 2.0 grade from the only subject i am good at. Btw, my math 55 for first sem, second year, was 1.25. Not a 1.0 but still, it's good. Second semester that year was when pandemic hit so there's nothing much to tell. I was, sorry but i was really, glad to be away from school for a while, not until for a while became forever. Virtual university set-up was very hard. With too much from taking in whatever i see and hear on my surroundings, even just at home, everything is difficult. It is very hard to find motivation and discipline in studying when i was surrounded with people who do nothing. Even to this point i am writing, everyday is like a battle, but is mostly an internal one. Self vs self, a war no one knows who will win. So the confidence, the tower of knowledge i did build, exponentially went down. I did really well when i was in grade 10, i did my best that time and it can be seen at the achievements i had that year. Being consistently on top 1 the whole year, placing second on division MMC (even getting the highest score on the written elimination round for the whole cluster), doing well sa physics under maam andico, placings on cluster journalism competitions - it was like a record best, best record (?) Whatever. But it wasn't enough you know, i eventually came fourth like wtf. I had read from somewhere Newton saying like the two years when he did write the three laws of motion and the calculus stuff were the two best years of his life, and it kept me thinking that what if mine already passed? That it was when i was in high school?
But, back when i was in school, every time that i was belittling myself or even at random times that i would feel nervous for nothing, my classmates and close friends would say na:
Uno mo man ang Math, uno mo na na (it was a one or two time thing, what if chamba lang to???)
Ikaw man highest sa first le sa thermo (it was really an absolutely one time thing, i barely passed that sub)
Alam ka man sa physics (i was just invested on physics and maybe nachambahan lang na ang ginpractice ko solve kay parallel sa exam ni sir)
Alam ka, d ka lang confident (OKAY???!)
I was ignoring those shit cause who cares if i did really good that time. Yeah, it felt good but it wasn't fulfilling. Satisfied but not happy. But with recent events, i think i would be changing. This post will be a written contract that i will push to be better, to start trusting myself, and build that confidence glow behind me; to believe that i am bright and i can hack it, whatever it may be.
For coherence, i would itemize na lang all of the events that brought me to epiphany lol
It was Friday, 17 Sep, when Dean, in our plant design subject, gave an activity for us - to come up with solutions that would address problems he presented. 1 off grid island community (either you address the water, electricity, and phone reception/signal problem under a 100k budget) and 2 vinegar packaging with a 500 mL volume and should cost less than the cost of vinegar. The due's on Monday, 20 Sep. The challenge is that you should come up with an idea that is not the same with those who already turned in their proposed solutions. I haven't turned in mine until Sunday afternoon. We are 23 in class, hence there should be 23 proposed solutions for each problem. However, only 20 or 21 turned in their solutions and as a student who decided to do it three days after the sheet was given, i was at the second to the last of the entries hahaha. I have limited choice since a lot have been proposed. And ngl, i did entered my idea for the first problem at Sunday evening and for the second problem it was on the afternoon of the next day. Those were basic solutions cause who am I? Am just your basic guy.
Tuesday, 21 Sep (#NeverForget #NeverAgain), class again for plant design (PD). Dean discussed stuffs which im ngl, i did not listen because im bored (not until he said 'we'll have a 5-min break and we'll have a quiz after that' like wtf, how will we do our quiz???!). After the short break, I did study cause i panicked as hell, he presented the prospects of the course, that we will be divided in groups and that the leaders were chosen based on the solutions they turned in the activity previously given. So there's no quiz, i was calm the whole time after that until my name was called. Like wtf??! Your basic guy will be a leader???! Hello!!! So i chat people, asked them if it was a good thing (course it was!!!? So dumb right?!). And then, i asked another leader and she agreed to my argument that we should only be divided into six instead of seven as what dean has decided. So i chatted dean (pic below). I just accepted the role half-heartedly.
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As leaders, we should be hiring people for our team and we should make pubs. I dont have a canva account to help me do pubs. I made mine at MS ppt HAHAHAHAHAHA but im good so its cute. We were assigned with projects and i get to have the 4-member team. The vacant roles were project maven and liaison officer for a 3-member team. In my pubs, i included scrummaster as position to be filled, cause who am i to lead?! So yeah, that's it. I did the pubs Wednesday and I submitted my resume Thursday (third to the last hahahaha but my resume's cute hahaha).
Thursday. So i had this invite by a classmate to join the Shell event long time ago. He was reaching out for someone to ask Dean for his approval because Dean did not replied to the email he sent. So, i volunteered. I really want this competition cause this will be my first and maybe last competition as a UP student. So i DMed dean and blah blah blah he asked for selection process. I relayed the message and apologize to them for being me because i was thinking that it was me who made him come up with the decision of having the team be selected. Like, wtf i was just asking for his approval. Getting kicked out of the team was not my intention. Those whom i chatted that night were telling me that it wasn't my fault blah blah blah. So i half-heartedly agreed to them.
Friday came, yesterday, the interview. I am very anxious for someone who will be the one asking the applicants lmao. I already have been interviewed before for college applications and somehow remember the feeling, nerve wracking, whatever. To calm my nerves, i listed questions which i never got to ask properly btw, but at least i have concrete ideas on what to ask. The first interviewee was my very closed friend and so we just laugh and laugh and laugh HAHAHAHAHA. IDK if dean saw it but who cares. And the next and next and next. 3:30 passed by fast and guess what??? YOUR BASIC GUY HAS THE MOST NUMBER OF APPLICANTS TO THE POINT THAT DEAN CUT MY LIST. IT WAS EXHAUSTING BUT VERY FLATTERING. I FEEL SO HONORED. i really thought and very scared at the thought that no one will apply to me but wtf, just wtf. Ranking my applicants was damn hard. 1 i have a dream team but one was cut by dean; 2 this could make my friends mad; 3 this will be the group for the whole year; 4 i am really exhausted. But still, i submitted the list. I was hoping for the people i chose to choose me back. Only two out of three did, i am forever grateful.
Still on Friday, the classmate who invited me to the Shell thing and Dean had a zoom call and discussed about the competition. That classmate told dean what i told him the other day that i might be the reason for the decision of having the selection process done. He told me this through a voice memo, katamad daw magtype. A voice message that i played over and over again. Dean actually find me interesting (?), Invested (?) Idk exactly but the classmate told me na 'may nakikita daw talaga sya sayo. Na grabe ka ka-practical as a person like yung ideas mo daw sa plant design napakasimple lang pero napaka practical to the point daw na madami nag apply sayo kanina. And then, you need more confidence lang daw talaga' so ig, you basic guy is a practical guy now. It's just flattering.
Now, whatever happens, i must meet those expectations right? This could be a lousy motivation but what is if there's none? I dont know why im writing this. I just thought i should get my thoughts out. Ver 2.0? Turning point? Let's just do good 😌
PS I put this on my bio on FB, guess im getting more public, and if you happened to read this because you saw the link on my bio, send me a message about you thoughts.
PPS if your initials are JTZC, these have been my week and i miss you even though you're not interested in me anymore, you are hard to forget
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